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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 19
stranger
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stranger
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 19 |
Years ago, I had a human resources manager try to teach me "to rebuttal" angry customers. She referred to it as "rebuttaling."
Of course, I rebutted by telling her that the correct word was "rebut," but she rebuttaled right back; she was having none of that.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 81
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 81 |
There was an interesting bit on the radio a while back where an american lawyer had asked for a mortgage on a house which she'd be assured would be no problem when she inquired over the phone. However, when she applied in person she was refused the mortgage on the bases that the property was in an area where property values were dropping. She was black and the area was white.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
It sounds to me like Philip is referring to his previous
post re: class differences in the U.S being defined
by race.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
"REBUTTALING"??? ack!
That's as bad as when my friend had her dog 'spaded'!
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
oh, now I get it -- for some reason I hadn't seen the original post in this sub-thread, I think because Philip and I were posting at the same time. The dynamic working in the case of the black woman being refused the mortgage is the fact that poor blacks moving into neighborhoods really do bring down property values (so for that matter do poor whites, it's just not so "obvious" - until they move in and start to trash the property). Even though this particular woman was a lawyer, the bank knew that this fact would be discounted because of what had been happening. [This actually speaks to the US marketplace; no one takes the long view and everything is about this quarter's balance sheet.] Anyway, class differences aren't quite as black and white as they sometimes appear [no pun intended]. but we digress; this is the stuff of political forums. http://members.aol.com/tsuwm/
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Tsoo-wums,
cannot resist: wouldn't the word "factor" be an acceptable
replacement for "dynamic" in, "The dynamic working in the
case of the black woman..."?
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
actually, no; in this case the dynamic comprises many factors. <g> http://members.aol.com/tsuwm/
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 81
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 81 |
The point of the women's story is that the bank makes the racist assumption that all blacks are poor. This all arises because my thought that some americans are hypocritical about class (class being closely associated with economic spending power) as shown by the tautological expansion of the acronym WASP into white anglo-saxon protestant instead of into wealthy anglo-saxon protestant.
The very close association of language and politics is one of the great ideas to come out of feminist philosophy. Post-structuralists will tell you how the choice of language used affects political and social behaviour at quite profound levels. Whilst I agree that this BB is about words rather than about language I don't think the digression is completely outside the BB remit (unlike the merit's of duct tape).
I was, and still am, interested in hearing if anyone has other examples of words, or word usage, that reflect these sorts of underlying political and social assumptions and attitudes.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
As ever, I agree with Phillip - words evolve because we need to find ways to express new ideas. The discussion of WASP is appropriate here. Technological and political changes must be amongst the greatest "drivers" for change in a language. The challenge posed to the way we think and talk by anti sexist and racist philosophy has got to be worth a few words.
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